Many devices today utilize some form of wireless technology to transmit and receive information. Typically, such devices include an antenna that enables wireless signals to be transmitted and received. For devices that are often used in close proximity to a user's body (e.g., cell phones, tablet computers, and so on), antenna design and placement can be challenging.
For instance, the human body is a highly dissipative and dense medium that can absorb a variety of different types of energy. Thus, an antenna that is placed close to a human body, such as during use of a cell phone, can experience performance degradation due to absorption of wireless signals that are transmitted or received by the antenna. Such performance degradation can reduce the strength and/or quality of signals that are transmitted and/or received by a device.
To compensate for this performance degradation, some devices employ multiple antennas that can be separately activated based on different use scenarios. For example, when a user places a smart phone next to their ear during a telephone call, an antenna that is situated away from the user's ear can be activated to send and receive wireless signals. When the user holds the smart phone away from their ear, such as when typing and/or interacting with a touch screen of the smart phone, a different antenna that is situated away from the user's hands can be activated. Such techniques, however, typically involve sensing a particular use scenario in order to determine which antenna to activate, such as via sensing device orientation. Thus, if a use scenario is incorrectly determined, antenna activation and/or configuration can be incorrect based on the actual use scenario.